Garmin 60CSx

The first Garmin handheld unit that I bought was a GPS12XL and it must have been more than ten years ago. At the time, I remember connecting it to AutoRoute running on a laptop and being amazed while watching the moving map in the car (with all the kit sat on the passenger seat). At the time, it felt like a gadget worthy of James Bond! Today, all that kit comes in a piece of hardware so small that you can attached to your windscreen with a rubber sucker!

Well, ten years on and I have bought my second Garmin unit (I lent the 12XL to someone and never got it back!). Thinking about it, I have bought a number of devices recently with GPS built in (a car, a camera, a watch), but this is the first (well, second) dedicated GPS handheld that I have bought. And boy, how the technology has improved!

First off, the power up and location time is amazing. No more hanging around, waiting for the device to find it's location. It locates itself in under 60 seconds. No doubt this is longer if you have moved significantly distances between using the unit, but in normal use it is stunningly quick.

Great reception. Even under trees. In open ground, I am frequently picking up 9 satellites simultaneously at full signal strength. Thanks to the responsiveness of the unit, you can see the signal strength dip when under a tree canopy, but this has little effect on the unit (it does seem to reduce the accuracy slightly). With EGNOS enabled, the device's accuracy is usually reported as +/- 2M (under cover this gets reduced to +/- 3M).

Barometric altimeter. You need a signal from at least 4 satellites to be able to provide an estimate of altitude and GPS devices are notorious for not being great at providing height readings. Not too much of an issue if you are using it for marine use, but if you are using it for outdoor activities, this can be much more important. Anyway, the inaccuracy of GPS altitude readings are solved with the 60CSx by using barometric readings instead. These work well and the unit will provide graphic display of the readings (you can also configure the device to use GPS altitude rather than barometric altitude, if necessary).

Great User Interface. I read the quick start guide, played with the unit and then read the instructions. As they say, we all else fails read the instructions! But I haven't needed to with this device. For me, the Garmin UI is becoming like the Nokia UI for mobile phones - the UI that everyone is familiar with and the benchmark against which other devices are compared. The device is very configurable and the software includes functionality for geo caching, parachuting and marine usage.

Great battery life. The unit takes 2 AA batteries and it meant to last up to 10 hours. Well, I have been using mine for about 4 hours and it still displays full battery strength. I suspect that I will get more than the rated 10 hours. When connected via a USB cable, the unit is powered via USB rather than it's batteries which is another neat feature.

Rugged form factor. The device feels great and handles well. The rubber grip around the base of the device makes it easy to use with gloves on and the device looks robust. The unit is water resistant to 1M and the battery compartment has a full gasket. If you are a marine user, you might want to attach a float to it since I suspect it will not float on it's own!

And the downsides.....

Well there aren't that many really and these are more of a nit pick that anything.

The default map is a bit ho hum. This is not a biggie for me since I use it in conjunction with a map. However, the device has great display capabilities and the default map does not do the device justice. Sure, you can buy additional maps (they are installed on the MicroSD card that will be found under the batteries), but it just feels like a missed opportunity.

Is that karabiner loop strong enough? You can see this in the photo and it is just a loop in the soft rubber that covers the top of the unit and aerial. Although the device isn't heavy, I bet that it wouldn't take much to break the karabiner loop. I am not so worried about breaking the loop as I am in losing the device itself.

All in all, a fantastic device and all for around £230. If you are into Geo Caching, then this device has to be on your list.

Green Graffiti

Here's an idea that looks like it has got some potential and all it needs is a template and a high pressure jet washer. The rest is down to you! You can find out more here: www.greengraffiti.nl.

Olympus Advert

How could I resist this? Courtesy of the Fire Wire.

Cloud computing and Netbooks

Netbook sales this year are expected to top 22M this year according one of the industry analysts (iSuppli). Although the volume is still trailing behind traditional laptop sales, Netbook sales are set to increase by 69% this year. I have been a fan of Netbooks for a while and have had a trusty Sony TR1-MP since 2004. The TR1 was around before anyone had even invented the word "Netbook", but the machine was aimed at the same market. At the time, it was marketed as an "ultralight" notebook. I use it almost exclusively for travelling and often take it on trips abroad (yes, even holidays!) for accessing the Internet. It is getting a bit old now, but who cares when all you use it for is web browsing.

So all of this got me thinking. Why are Netbooks popular now? And it suddenly occurred to me that there is a link here with Cloud computing. Let's ignore all the rhetoric and hype around cloud computing and focus on what it means for real people (people like you and me). Well, first off it means that I can access applications that I need from wherever I am - I have a work email account that I access via OWA and a personal email account that I access via a web interface. Sure, I use Outlook running on a PC to access them too, but this becomes less and less necessary as the web (or should I say "Cloud") versions of Outlook improve. Plus, I can use applications like this one (Blogspot) and all I need is Internet access.

Secondly, as well as being able to access applications on the web, I can now access data on the web. Increasingly, I am using secure storage on the web for photos and documents. Is it secure? Probably, more secure that the 4GB data stick that I used to carry around in my pocket (I used to get palpitations every time I thought I had lost it, so now I leave it at home and use online storage instead).

So given that it is getting easier to access applications AND data online, it is no wonder that devices such as Netbooks are becoming more popular. The interesting thing here is whether this is going to be a trend that will impact other devices. If this is the case, then:

• Why aren't more Netbooks 3G ready? In other words, they don't need the dongle. There are very few machines to choose from. Dell seems to be going backwards - the Mini 9 did have 3G, the Mini 10 does not. Since the Mini 9 has been discontinued, Dell no longer sells a 3G enabled Netbook.


• Battery life will be king. Blackberries have great battery life, smartphones suck. The Mac Book Pro is great, but it's battery life wipes it many of it's advantages (IMHO). The Samsung N120 has a battery life of 9 hours (now we are talking!), but it still isn't 3G enabled!


• Mobile broadband will need to get better. Much better. I am a Vodafone Mobile Broadband customer and, maybe it is me, but my experience hasn't been great. I would hardly say that it has worked "out of the box". I have found coverage to be very patchy (yes, I know if I only used it at home it would be fine, but that kind of defeats the object of "Mobile" broadband!) and the connection software has been very temperamental (I suspect there are driver conflicts on the three (!) laptops that I have tried! I can get it to work, but it is a bit of a fiddle and would not like to rely on it in a jam). And when I do get it to work, the download speeds are very variable.
  

However, as with all new technology, these wrinkles will get ironed out and the trends we see today in the early adopter community, will be set to become mass market 2-3 years from now.

Postscript: An article on the BBC website today (16-07-09) reported that according to Gartner that like for like PC sales are down over 10% on this time last year. Netbooks (or mini laptops as they refer to them), on the other hand, are up 20%. More information here.